The Big Twenty-One

Brobee

On August 11th, the state of Michigan arbitrarily decided (primarily in order to get their full share of highway funding) that I am mature enough to consume alcohol. Why has it taken me ten full days to make a post about my birthday? The reason is that at the Mulder household, we celebrate a full birthday week, so really I'm only three days late in posting an update on my festivities.

 I was lucky to receive some great gifts. I got cool root beers from Keith, Lisa, and Riley (kind of a last hurray for my pre-alcohol days). Riley actually picked up her selection from The Root Beer Store just outside Seattle where they boast hundreds of unique brews. I've tasted about half of them so far, and I can report that they are delicious. Many of you probably know that since the beginning of high school, I've had exceptionally dorky headphones. Well, Bryan and Jessie finally fixed that by getting me a cool new set of headphones. Most importantly, these headphones fit comfortably while running. Bryan and Jessie also got me a Brobee doll that matches one Matilda owns, in celebration of our joint love of Yo Gabba Gabba. Mom and dad got me a bottle of gin from a northern Michigan distillery. Drinking it is reminiscent of licking a pine tree, but in a good way.

Rootbeer

Enjoying a beer minutes after turning 21, courtesy of my big sister

Besides getting cool stuff, my birthday also involved doing fun things! On the night of my birthday, Laurel took me out to The Woods in Grand Rapids where I had some drinks and danced along with a few of her friends from medical school. The next weekend I went with Bryan and Jessie to Headquarters Beercade in Chicago, a cross between a bar and arcade. They had an impressive and well curated set of pinball machines and old arcade games, as well as some tasty (albeit expensive) beers. While it was a little crowded, I managed to get some good gaming in.

If you're looking to do something for me in honor of my birthday, I'd appreciate donations to the Against Malaria Foundation. It is the top rated charity by GiveWell, an organization that carefully evaluates the impact and efficiency of hundreds of charities.

I enjoyed a great 21st birthday and am grateful to everyone who helped make it special.

A few of the many pinball machines at HQ Beercade

Gin

A Question about Garages

I heard a story on NPR today that just really confused me.

This week, the Dearborn Planning Commission approved changes in rules governing the way Dearbornites may use their garages, and there are those in the Arab community who feel these rule changes are a direct slap at them.

Apparently the issue is that many people in Dearborn, especially those in the Arab community, have started decking out their garages with furniture and sliding glass doors so they can be used as social spaces. I'm trying to fathom why anyone cares what anyone does in their garages. What's next, zoning laws about whether you can have TVs in your kitchen? Should I not be allowed to have a microwave in my bedroom?

I'm just trying to figure out what special interest is pushing regulations on what people can use their garages for. I'm also confused as to why it's legal to put a limit on what people can use their garages for. If you have any insight into why this would be an issue, do share.

 

An Excellent Article on Board Games

I have no idea why it took me so long to find this article, but in 2010 the Financial Time's undercover economist published a great article. He reports from a German board gaming convention, and covers all sorts of board game topics and history, from the first Spiel de Jahres, to Rio Grande Games, to the most prolific board game designer in the world. He also solicits some interesting thoughts regarding the enduring popularity of board games in the face of the computer age. 

“You can know someone for 10 years,” explains Teuber with some passion, “and the first time you play a game with them you see a side you never saw before. But when you’re playing a game on your PC, you’re just playing a computer’s artificial intelligence. This is a partner with no emotion. You can’t see the computer smiling. You can’t see the computer … what’s the word?” He presses his fists to his head.“Get cross?”

Do read the whole thing, I don't think it's gated.  

The Cabins: 2013

A gorgeous view from a hike at Pyramid Point

I'm sure all my readers have been wondering where I disappeared to these past two weeks. Well, the answer for August 11th up until now is that I was being lazy, but from August 3rd - 10th, I was with the Mulders and Riley at some cabins at Platte Lake, about 45 minutes west of Traverse City near Lake Michigan.

The cabins are an annual tradition for my dad's side of the family. We've been going up for 20 years now, and in that time we've only missed two trips (once for a wedding and another time for a birth). While the size of the group varies year to year and many can only stay for a few days, it's usually a large gathering. This year we had about 25 people most days.

Saying hi to Matilda as we start our hike

Yet another gorgeous view

The cabins are always a good chance for me to get in touch with my rustic side through kayaking, hiking, running, and relaxing on the beach. I also got to hang out with my often busy siblings, which included much board game playing. The game list included Le Havre, Agricola, the fearsome Eclipse, a few games of Mage Wars, Ra the Dice Game, 7 Wonders, and the intriguing Citadels. I also managed to reach the point where I'm competitive with Bryan on a 6 stone handicap in Go. Of course, there were also the Mulder Olympics, where teams of two compete in bocce ball, croquet, and a canoe race. Although I didn't place with either of my teams in bocce ball or croquet, I did make it to the finals in the canoe race with Riley!

Riley and I in front of the gorgeous view

This year's cabins were a relaxing time to reconnect with some wonderful family that I don't get to see very often. It was also a great to have some time to spend with Riley as our departures to Europe draw every closer.

There's a chance I'll have more photos to put up in the coming days, and I'll try to do a post on my 21st birthday soon!

Riley being fabulous at the Sleeping Bear Dunes

Riley and I at the Sleeping Bear Dunes

DC: Overall Impression

So I come to my concluding post on DC. I'm just going to make a few observations:

• DC is the most European American city (that I've seen) 

I think it must be a combination of the building height restrictions (which as I've mentioned before, are bad) and all the monolithic government buildings. My parents said it reminded them of Moscow or maybe Vienna. That having been said, DC still has many American elements. In the big monuments and war memorial area, I was struck by how many huge fields of grass there were. All the green space was like an individual monument to America's obsession with suburban lawns. I thought the most euro-American object of all was the National Cathedral. As you walk in, you are reminded of countless gothic cathedrals in Europe, but as you look closer, you see all these unmistakably American details. Woodrow Wilson's grave is inside, paratroopers, civil war generals, and a moon rock decorate stained glass windows, and even Darth Vader makes an appearance.

• DC is really young

With the exception of when I'm inside of a school, I've never felt like I was surrounded by so many young people as when I was in DC. Indeed, DC made #7 in a 2013 ranking of the youngest cities. I think many of the lobbying jobs and political internships attract all the yuppies.

• DC would be cooler without height restrictions 

It gives DC a unique feel, but the height restrictions means that DC doesn't have a very impressive skyline compared to other cities. Even more important than my aesthetic concerns is the fact that these height restrictions are extremely costly! When you have a denser city, transportation is easier without the sprawl, there are more retail and food options in any given area, and most importantly, rent costs are lower which brings down every other price. There's even evidence in the economic literature that density leads to higher worker productivity and wages. 

I was very glad to go to DC! It was a novel experience to live alone and work in a big city for two weeks. As an aspiring economist, I may very well return to the city someday. It is home to many employers of economists, including the Department of Treasury and Federal Reserve as well as a variety of other federal departments. I thought it was a great city, and if they just allowed some dang skyscrapers, then the sky would literally be the limit. 

DC: The Job

Ostensibly, the main reason I was in DC was for my internship with AidGrade (see my previous post about AidGrade here). I've been telecommuting throughout the summer, but I wanted to meet some of the people I was working with and see Washington DC. Eva Vivalt, the economist who heads the program, was unfortunately away at a conference in Taiwan, but I did get to meet several of my fellow interns and Timothy Catlett who helps guide us through the meta-analyses.

We worked at the Georgetown University library, which is located on a beautiful campus (although, I think I prefer K's library to Georgetown's). Timothy is a graduate of Georgetown and both of the other interns in DC are students there. It was fascinating learning more about the school. Georgetown has a large number of international students, and from the stories I heard, they often come from very high up places in countries like China and Singapore. The entire school, in fact, has a very international focus, with an entire School of Foreign Service that sends many of its graduates into the State Department and CIA. Georgetown itself is still a Jesuit affiliated school, but apparently its student body is very diverse.

The first thing you see as you step onto Georgetown's campus

Besides seeing Georgetown, I also learned more about development economics. Developmental economics isn't as sexy as macroeconomics or antitrust stuff, but evidence based aid and trying to do the most good with limited resources has been seeing a surge in popularity as it becomes feasible to perform more controlled experiments in development. Developmental economics straddles a few different domains. It's very statistics heavy, but from what I understand doesn't get into the more abstract mathematics you find in other fields of economics. It involves working with a lot of public health issues, but delves into areas like microfinance and women's empowerment as well. Certainly there are many academics involved with developmental economics, but most members of the field are more involved with hands on projects (things like AidGrade or actually performing impact evaluations in other communities). It's a fascinating area, and I'm not sure whether or not it's what I'd want to do in economics. Apparently, once you decide to do developmental economics, you're kind of put on a separate track from other economics specialties because it involves a very different set of skills. I'm glad to have made some connections in this very unique area of economics.

DC: The Food

I'm back from DC now, but I still have more posts to do on my time there! Here I'll focus on the food.

I'm really not cut out to be a food blogger because I always forget to take pictures of my food before I eat it. I'm just always really hungry by the time it arrives. Fortunately, I managed to restrain myself long enough to snap photos of a few dishes before I devoured them, so I'll include those.

I was impressed by the variety of ethnic restaurants available in DC. During my time there, I had Thai, Ethiopian, Nepalese, Portuguese, and Mediterranean (plus I ordered Italian with some friends one night, but that doesn't really count). Some of my fellow interns were arguing about whether a Peruvian or Argentinian restaurant was better, which led me to realize that Kalamazoo doesn't even have a South American restaurant to the best of my knowledge, let alone one representing a specific country in that region. That having been said, you pay for the high rents imposed by DC's height restrictions in the price of the food. Reasonably priced entrees are seldom below 13 or 14 dollars, although there are good deals to be had if you're willing to look off the beaten path a little. In addition to ethnic food, I got to enjoy some of Georgetown's students favorite places. Among these was a great sandwich place that really makes me wish K had a good deli within walking distance (Stacks certainly doesn't count).

In terms of food experiences that stood out to me, there's:

-Basil, a Thai restaurant I went to on my first night in DC. The sweet sticky rice with mango was especially delicious.

My meal at Keren Restaurant. I had enough leftovers for a full lunch!

-Keren Restaurant, a great Ethiopian place just outside the downtown. The dishes come spread out on a giant piece of a sticky sort of bread, and you get a roll of the bread yourself. Instead of silverware, you use the bread to pick up the food. At the end, you get to eat what's left with the sauce soaked bread that the dishes came served on. It's really a fun, unique experience! I agree with Tyler Cowen that eating with your fingers definitely allows you to combine different pieces of food and flavors better than with a fork. I ate at Keren Restaurant myself and with my parents when they came to pick me up last weekend, and the three of us managed to eat for less than thirty dollars (including tip and tax).

The goat curry at Himalayan Heritage. 

-Himalayan Heritage, a wonderful Nepalese restaurant. The restaurant had a great decor, including Nepal tourism brochures. I had goat for the first time in a great curry.
-Cava Mezze, a Mediterranean restaurant I visited with my parents. This was the hippest place I visited, dimly lit and with lots of young people having fun. Cava Mezze is a small dish restaurant, where the table orders many appetizers and everyone has a bit of everything. Many of the dishes were pretty fun, including a cheese thing that they lit on fire (I don't remember much about it beyond that), some great meatballs, and a watermelon salad.
-Old Glory, a great barbecue place my internship director showed me for lunch. I was skeptical of bbq in DC, and while I still think it's not the city's strong suite (compared to the Ethiopian scene), Old Glory was impressive. I forgot that DC is actually pretty far south, so it's not too surprising that it has some bbq has some influence there. Barbecue is all about the sauce, and Old Glory had a great selection, including some delicious selections from Kansas City, Memphis, and Savannah. It also had the best corn bread I've ever tasted.

At Himalayan Heritage, they brought out this little appetizer. I forget how to really describe it, but it was great

The place I was staying at had a broken stove/oven, so I couldn't do as much cooking as I'd hoped to. Fortunately, the world of microwave dinners seems to be improving, and I found Amy's microwave meals to be quite tolerable. That and there was a Chipotle